With a large percentage of homes now having a DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) installed for E-mail and Internet access, many people now have more of an idea of what bandwidth is all about. Explaining DS3 Bandwidth then, should be generally understood.

Formerly, the classifications for digital circuits were denoted by the terms T1, T2 and T3 which referred to the signal processing equipment. The modern equivalents of the old classification, namely DS1, DS2 and DS3 are exactly the same circuits but now refer to the format and the rate of the signal. DS stands for Digital Signal and DS3 is equivalent to the T3 circuit.

The full DS3 line operates at 45 Mbps or about 90 times the speed of a standard DSL circuit commonly used in today’s households. This equates to 90 people accessing the Internet, or another application, all at the same time and getting the same response as a single DSL user at home. DS3 is rated in excess of twenty times the speed of a normal T1 circuit making it ideal for companies needing the high speed transfer of data between head office and branch offices.

If the full DS3 speed is not required, a fractional DS3 circuit is available, which, though not as fast is also considerably less expensive. Another option, the burstable DS3, allows use of the circuit at a slower speed during the day with periods of full speed access at times agreed to by the user and service provider.

Full-motion video in real-time and extremely large databases may be carried over a DS3 line on a very active network. High-volume traffic, such as that experienced by large companies and universities, is carried with ease over this type of line. Alternative users are typically those supplying PBX and VoIP systems and large call centres. Added to this are companies that offer video conferencing and software development not to mention research laboratories which are also high speed data users.

There are normally two monthly charges associated with these lines. One charge applies to the local loop which is for that portion of the line from the local exchange to the clients premises. The other charge is for network access through a port on the carriers equipment. The charge for the local loop may vary depending on the distance from the user to the exchange.

DS3 Bandwidth speeds are made possible by combining the signals of 28 DS1 circuits which are multiplexed into 7 DS2 circuits. These are again fed through the multiplexer and emerge as one DS3 line. The line can transport the equivalent amount of data as 672 telephone lines.